


Chance Encounters (On a Deadline Remix)

by Sadisticsparkle (sadisticsparkle)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-28 14:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadisticsparkle/pseuds/Sadisticsparkle
Summary: Even if Steve's come out of the ice, he remains frozen in time.But the clock's ticking, although he doesn't notice.





	Chance Encounters (On a Deadline Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runningondreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningondreams/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Chance Encounters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17455391) by [runningondreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningondreams/pseuds/runningondreams). 



_530185 hours until deadline_

The second between realizing that the plane has to land, _now_ , and deciding that he will be the one do it lasts forever before it's over. In that second, all his hopes and all his fears - marriage, love, Peggy, coming home, never making it home, Bucky, New York, seeing Paris in peacetime, drinking good coffee again - dance around in his head like a demented carnival before they are obliterated by the conscience of duty.

It's his choice, but there is no other choice.

 

_2864 hours until deadline_

They don't know what they lost. He sees them walk around SHIELD's headquarters, shuffling like spies even in the blinding light of noon when he goes to pick up his lunch in an empty cafeteria. They've learned that he doesn't want to talk. Not now. Not ever.

They pass him by in the hallways and they whisper thinking he can't hear him. They talk about his sacrifice. His heroism and what his heroism meant. They don't know what it meant. They think they're weary fighters who have made hard choices and have accepted the losses that come as a price, but they don't know it, not like he does.

Because yes, he made the ultimate sacrifice and his choice was for nothing. He has nothing - he _is_ nothing - and the world kept turning while he remained stuck in place. It turned and tumbled into something unrecognizable.

He looks at his hands. They're empty. He has nothing to hold onto.

 

_1594 hours until deadline_

"Captain."

He shrugs and doesn't take his eyes off the heavy bag. He knows what Fury wants. They all want that, but most of them have stopped asking.

"Director."

"Have you watched the news lately?"

He shrugs again and hits the bag again.

"Okay, costing us a fortune in gym equipment was a bigger priority. Got it. But, you know, you might miss something important."

"Important? Like what?"

"Like Howard Stark's son being kidnapped."

He freezes. Fury lets the silence be deafening before speaking again.

"Don't worry. He got out of it. In a flying armor, if villagers' reports are to be believed."

A flying armor. It'd be ridiculous if he wasn't Howard's son. He turns around to face Fury.

"Where do I come in?"

"We need somebody to keep an eye on him. He's… not the most stable person."

He knows what Fury wants. He wants Captain America. Tall, proud, handsome, healthy, not-wanting-to-kill-himself Captain America. That dream, that old self is all Steve has left - he's not going to give it to them. He'll keep it trapped in his chest, the way he keeps all his memories.

But he's tired of waiting for something to change. He can be Steve Rogers, perhaps, and that'll be enough.

 

_391 hours until deadline_

They're waiting like a panther in the dark of the jungle. Stark Industries has gone up in flames. Howard's business partner is dead. Stark - Tony - is Iron Man. He's said that. _To the press_. Steve almost smiles a little. It's been a while since something surprised him.

SHIELD is still finding Steve suitable cover and calculating possible outcomes when Tony surprises everybody by announcing he's moving to New York again, to work with his high school rival Tiberius Stone in some sort of new, revolutionary technology.

They scramble and all Steve can do is wait.

 

_27 hours until deadline_

He won't pull it off. He remembers the coffee types. He remembers random information about the 21st Century and about the man he's supposed to be. His fake mother name and his fake ex-girlfriend's reasons for dumping him. The name of the dog he never really had (it's okay, his real life also feels like a past he never had). He remembers everything.

But he doesn't remember how to be human.

 

_57 minutes until deadline_

They get the call. Ten minutes later, they give him an address, a travel tray of coffee and a small paper bag.

The agent - he hasn't even bothered to learn her name - smiles. "Good luck."

He's going to need it.

 

_14 minutes until deadline_

When he comes into the room, Stark is there. He lights up the place, undeniably alive. Has he seen other alive people in the future before? Because he doesn't remember it. Stark - Tony - moves and smiles and he can tell he's warm from across the room. He has blood running through his veins and enough energy to lit up all of New York.

Tony's also uncomfortable and in the middle of something with a blonde guy that looks as shifty as a conman on his last dollars, trying to seduce one last desperate widow who won't come back from her honeymoon.

“Is there a problem here?” he says. Calmly, almost casually. Tony looks over his shoulder and Steve's breath hitches.

“Who is this?” the other man - Tiberius Stone, he remembers - says. He's scowling and coiling like a cobra before the attack.

“He’s my boyfriend,” Tony blurts. “Why else would he be bringing me coffee at 2am? Will you take a hint now?”

This is, too, one of those seconds that last forever. He imagines, sometimes, that it feels like that because destiny or fate or time are diverging right then. Maybe some other Steve scowls. Rejects the suggestion. Laughs.

He won't do that.

“We’re not done, Tony,” Ty says. The future might be weird, but Steve can spot a bastard when he sees one. That hasn't changed.

He decides, then, and jumps off another precipice.

“I think Tony’s made himself pretty clear that you are,” he says. He even manages to sound threatening.

Tony doesn’t take his eyes off Ty until he’s stalked all the way out of the lab and the door’s shut behind him. Then he dives for the central computer and does something that takes all his attention. Not even looking back at Steve. Having that focus on him would be intoxicating, wouldn't it?

He tries to make himself smaller, in this place that's so full of Tony. He can see him in every device and doohickey strewn around the workshop and every note scribbled in a random paper.

“Sorry about that,” Tony says. “I think I owe you some cash, right?” He pulls out his wallet.

“You paid online.” He barely remembers now the details of the cover story they used. He's too distracted by the models hanging from the ceiling, and at the fabricator whirring and beeping in the corner. After so many months of feeling unmoored in the past, he's in the future. “Is there a good place to put these down?” he asks, holding up the coffee and pastry bag.

“Oh! Right. Over here.” Tony gestures at the clearest workstation. “Sorry, again. Ty’s an ass. I—really appreciate you playing along there.”

“No problem.” He smiles. It's like dusting off an old car. He thinks he's pulling it off, but he might also look like a maniac. “Always happy to show a jerk the door.”

The best lie is always the truth.

“Well, thanks.” Tony hands him a fifty. “Here. For the help. And uh. Possible sexual harassment.”

He doesn't take it.

“That’s overgenerous,” he says. “Really, I’m just glad I could help.”

“And I’m insisting,” Tony replies. He grabs his hand and shoves the bill into his palm, then closes his fingers over it. Steve realizes, then, that it's the first time anybody who's not a doctor has touched him. He's dazed and the tingling sensation in his palms is distracting, almost as distracting as Tony's dark, deep eyes. “Seriously, I’ll give you a completely different tip for the coffee. Getting Ty out of my space is worth a lot.”

He shoves his hands in his pockets, brow furrowing. Did he even take the money? What is he feeling? Tony isn't what he expected. He's more tired and more nervous. Like an exposed live wire. Maybe that's why he makes Steve feel something after feeling nothing for so long..

“Are you always this forceful?”

“Only when I’m tired, hungry, or under-caffeinated. And you’ve delivered the solution, so, again, thank you.” He picks up one of the cups and takes a drink.

The file, however, was right about Tony's love for coffee. His face is caught in bliss. He'd stay, staring at him, but he has to go back to SHIELD.

“You’re welcome. I’ll leave you to . . . whatever it is you’re doing in here, then. Is there a trick to the door like on the way in or—?”

“Nope,” Tony waves at him, newly distracted by his work. “Out is easy. You’ll get scanned to make sure you’re not walking off with anything you shouldn’t have, but it’s painless. You’re good.”

“Have a good night,” he says before hearing “Mhmm, you too.”

 

_4 minutes after deadline_

He doesn't notice it until he's sitting on his bike and his hand is covered in colors. There’s red and gold and white and blue, all over his fingers.

He puts his glove on. There are some things that are better kept a secret.

 

_137 hours after deadline_

Steve doesn't know what to expect, afterward. He can't tell anybody what happened, but he stares at his hand when he's alone in his room. A soulmate. After everything, he has a _soulmate_.

It's not a guarantee. But it's a sign. Maybe he has a place in this brand new world. Maybe he can carve himself a place next to Tony. He thinks he wouldn't mind it.

SHIELD doesn't know what to expect either. The original plans were for an assistant or a bodyguard, not a random coffee guy. Was the coffee good enough for Tony? Was _Steve_ good enough?

He's on the brink of deciding to go meet Tony when a brunette agent meets him in the shop.

"Hey. He's outside the shop," she says.

He nods and they cross the street, laughing, talking about things Steve's not familiar with and laughing at jokes that don't make sense. They get to the subway station and she turns around. They both know Tony is getting close to them. Tony's not a subtle man.

“Have a good week, Steve,” she says, grinning at him as she takes the steps down.

He waves at her as if they were friends.

“See you Sunday,” he says. He turns once she’s disappeared into the station, and spots Tony almost immediately. There’s not much of a crowd to hide in, at this hour, and anyway, Tony’s standing pretty close.

“Uh, hi,” Tony says. “Steve, is it?”

“Tony,”

“Yeah, I uh—I realized after you’d left the other night that I ... um.”

Tony's hands are out of his pockets, curving over each other as he tries to explain himself. He sighs and lets them fall open, showing off the color over his palms.

  
“I realize this is kind of weird and awkward, but would you like to maybe get cof—no, you work with coffee. Dinner. Would you like to get dinner? With me? Sometime? And we could ... get to know each other.”

Steve stares at him. It's another one of those moments where he knows he has to take a plunge. Since he first heard of Tony Stark, he's been through several. He wonders if that's why Tony's his soulmate - because he's made his life move forward again.

What happens next is his choice, but he didn't have one. He takes his right hand out of his pocket and pulls off his glove.

“There’s a decent diner a few blocks east of here,” he says. “If you have time now?”

“I—yeah.” Tony smiles, in a gentle, surprised way. “Yeah, I have time.”

He knows what's supposed to happen now. He'll use his strategic advantage to get close to Tony. Report back to Fury. Manipulate Tony into doing what SHIELD wants.

He also knows that nobody, not even Fury, expects it to go that way.

"Good. Because I have a long story to tell you."


End file.
